PvZ: Project Team Swap
by EnderDidact117
Summary: More than a year into the Second Garden War, the plants are regaining the upper hand. Dr. Zomboss, determined to get the zombies back on top, devises a plan to destabilize the plant forces from within. (Semi-direct reference to the now patched team-swap glitch, which is self explanatory)
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, it's my first story here! I don't have anything else to say, really, rather than to sit back and enjoy the show.**

Chapter 1: The Plan

It was a nice, warm summer morning for the plants in what remained of Suburbia. Most of them would've enjoyed it, had there not been the Second Garden War going on. You see, the only reason Dr. Zomboss won the First Garden War was by cheating. He contacted his future self, and received a powerful addition to his army: Z-Mechs. But now that the plants had new friends of their own, they were gaining the upper hand once again. A thing that Zomboss couldn't allow. Not when he was this close to ending them.

"Bah! How could these weeds suddenly bounce back to full threat levels within two years?!" Zomboss screamed at the computer in his lair.

"W-well…" It was Professor Brainstorm, one of Zomboss' chief scientists, and a member of Zomboss' Hero division, where only the roughest, toughest, and supernatural-est of zombies were allowed in, in which there were only several.

"Well what?" Asked Zomboss, turning his throne around to face the Heroes in front of him. "What is it that you wish to say?"

"What if, suppose we somehow do, capture live plants from the battlefield, and we bend their will so they'll work for us. Not as slaves, but killing machines," Brainstorm explained.

"WHAT?! THAT'S… actually not that bad of an idea. But we'll need a way to make this work. A way to attract enough forces where we're bound to get some decent specimens," began Zomboss. "BUT, If this fails, Brainstorm," said Zomboss coldly, pointing to the Professor, "You will pay dearly. Maybe not with your undeath, but I'll find a way," finished Zomboss, turning his throne around again to look at the computer screen.

"I won't disappoint you, Sir," said Brainstorm, saluting as he tried to conceal his mix of fear and joy: for once, the Doctor had accepted an idea of his, but if he screwed up, he'd be halfway up in Mulch Creek with no paddle.

"Good. Present your ideas later when they're ready. Heroes, dismissed!"

"Yes, sir," the Heroes said in almost unison before leaving...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Soccer Surprise

Now, some Backyards may look slightly different, but for the most part, they all looked the same, like this one. But nobody really cared nor bothered to question it, like the small group of plants playing in the soccer field not far from their base. Currently, the two plants facing off to see who could score higher were Torchy, the backyard's resident Torchwood, and Duke, a basic Citron. While they were kicking the ball back and forth, several more plants occupied the stands. One of them was Pete, a peashooter, currently engaged in conversation with Sunny, a long time friend of his.

"Wait, you heard about the sudden decrease in zombie activity right?" asked Sunny.

"Who hasn't? It's been evident wherever we go. Even the moon bases are less guarded. Probably a good thing," Pete replied.

"I don't know, Pete. Sounds pretty suspicious when you think about it. They wouldn't just give up."

"And neither would we. We were driven to the brink of extinction by the Z-Mechs, yet we pushed through, and now we're getting back on track for winning this."

"Hopefully once and for all."

Suddenly, the fun was broken by the distant sound of a Z-Mech being deployed. No, more than that. It was the none other than the seven different types of Z-Mech being deployed all at once. After a few seconds, the roar of an engine could be heard as a Bling Pylon Mech rounded the entrance to the parking lot and charged into the field, followed by several other entryways to the field being met with hostile Z-Mechs.

"One… two… three… four… where's the other three?" Pete asked himself before he saw a familiar blue blob fly out towards a group of Weeds.

"Shepard…" Pete said to himself.

Shepard, a Z7 Imp bounty hunter, was one of the Battleground's most dangerous zombies. Then again, what Z7 Imp wouldn't be dangerous if they couldn't empty a full clip of their Suppressors faster than you could say "the zombies are coming?"

As utter chaos broke through the field, the other plants who were inside the base noticed and began providing support, including several of the peashooters setting up for a Gatling barrage. The Imps quickly noticed due to their Mechs' armor being shredded by each Pea Gatling, and began to retreat, with some plants hot on their tail before being whirlpooled away, or threatened by stomps, pylon mine blockades, or the dreaded Biotic Pull-Zomni-Blade combo. Once the Imps made it to safe walking distance of their base, they ejected from their mechs in the Zompark, and walked into the safe confines of their base.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Team Swap, Test 1

"I knew a surprise attack wouldn't work! And you all kept pestering me to do so," Shepard angrily said to the other Imps.

"Well, ye should've thought of a backup plan, lad," the Scallywag Imp next to him piped up.

"You didn't give me time! You all were hellbent on barging in and nabbing the first plant you saw. You're all lucky I managed to make off with some Weeds," Shepard continued, dragging three unconscious Weeds behind him.

Shepard then pulled out his walkie-talkie and contacted Zomboss to teleport him and the other Imps into his secret lab underneath Zomboss Estate.

"Ah, there you are. I sincerely hope that your so-called 'surprise' attack wasn't a complete failure," Zomboss said, his throne facing away from the Imps as he typed on a computer in front of him.

"Well, we weren't able to capture any effective plants, but we captured some Weeds for you to use," Shepard began.

"WEEDS?! AND HOW AM I, DR. ZOMBOSS, SUPPOSED TO TOPPLE THE PLANTS WITH ONLY THREE WEEDS?!" screeched Zomboss as he quickly rotated the throne with a fury that could even frighten a Giga Gargantuar.

"T-test subjects?" a frightened Shepard managed to say.

"Hmm… That will do. I mean, why set your plan into motion if you don't even know if it works, right?" Zomboss then activated the PA system to call down the Heroes, Prof. Brainstorm specifically, who entered the laboratory moments later.

"Sir, you're just in luck! I had only just come up with a procedure to indoctrinate, biologically modify, augment, and convert plants so they could fight for us! It's just what you asked!" an ecstatic Brainstorm said, handing over a folder occupied by several typed pages on the exact same topic.

"Brainstorm, I'm impressed by your work, but we'll have to put it to the test first before the fun really starts."

"Understood, sir. Shall we?"

"With only two scientists? Let's bring in some backup," replied Zomboss as he proceeded to teleport several Scientist zombies who looked competent enough to help. "Shepard! Give me one of those Weeds!"

"On it, sir," said Shepard as he dragged one of the Weeds over to Zomboss, while the other Imps just sat around or stared intently.

After several hours of careful work, it was done. The first Swapper since the renegade problem had been created.

To test it, Zomboss used the other two Weeds as training dummies wearing plant masks. Needless to say, Barth the Sanitation Worker had to work a little extra that night to clean out the room of any remains of the dummies, which could be accurately described as putting mulch in a lawnmower: everywhere.

"Brainstorm, perhaps I've underestimated your true intellect. You've truly done great work here tonight," Zomboss said.

"Well… Thank you, sir," the Professor nervously said.

"Yeah, yeah. Just don't let it go to your head. You won't be getting any special treatment from me anytime soon, Professor. Now go."

"Right away, sir," Brainstorm replied as he walked out.

"Same goes for you, Shepard. You're getting as much special attention as that browncoat down the hall there. Just because you sped up the progress of my work doesn't mean you become a hero of the zombies. Understood?" asked Zomboss as he turned to face Shepard and the other Imps.

"Understandable, have a great day," was all that Shepard could say before he was teleported back to his own secret lab.

Now alone, Dr. Zomboss slowly built up an evil laugh, knowing the hell he could unleash upon the plant armies across the world, and they would meet the end they deserved long ago...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Designated Attack Site

It was easily a quiet summer night in the Backyard, and the plants not on night watch decided to enjoy themselves a bit. The only thing off about it was the Pizza Delivery Chomper always showing up about a few minutes after the pizza was delivered, considering the proximity of the local Chomper Pizza. Then again, Delivery Chompers always had habits of running around the whole Backyard Battleground before actually finishing the delivery. Besides that, everyone was having a good time either heading out to the Target Range in the sewers, bartering with Rux who had arrived for the weekend, playing in the soccer field, or staying within the walls of the plant base. Only a few plants were actually inside the base. They consisted of Pete, Sunny, Celia, a basic Cactus, Maw, a basic Chomper, Torchy, and Jesse, a Law Pea, who was also Pete's father, and were sitting around a small campfire. All of them had been friends since Dr. Zomboss' first global takeover scheme way back in 2009. Currently they were all talking about a rather large convoy of Zomni-Carriers and other Z-Tech vehicles that had flown over the Backyard Battleground earlier that day, which was unusual given the fact that only one Zomni-Carrier was typically present flying far over the zombie base at any point in time.

"I didn't like the look of those Zomni-Carriers. Reckon they're gonna do somethin' bad, what with the absence of zombies from most places 'round here," said Jesse, while playing a tune on his guitar.

"The real question, Dad, is this: where are they going?" asked Pete.

"If anything, they're probably headed out towards Zomburbia to rebuild the Academy," said Sunny.

"Why the hell would Zomboss need almost 25 Zomni-Carriers to simply pull up the giant tombstone and whatever was beneath it?" Celia spoke up, inciting a small _bork_ from a sleepy Maw.

"That's my concern there. What place could be so bad that 25 Zomni-Carriers, given the amount of troops and whatnot it could hold, would be needed to launch a successful attack?" Jesse said, temporarily pausing his playing of the guitar.

"Hopefully they're just heading to a convenient place to split up. I've seen it before, in that forest one time," Pete added.

"Yeah, hopefully," said Sunny.

 _Meanwhile…_

"Sir, the Zomni-Carriers you requested are en-route to the nearest loading stations," a General Supremo said as he entered the room, the only light falling on the throne faced away from the door.

"All 25?" Zomboss asked, the room giving his voice a menacing echo.

"Yes. They're all in one piece. Nobody's bothered to try and destroy any of them, as far as I know."

"Good. As you've no doubt heard, I think I've found the place to strike."

"Lotus Towers, correct?" Asked the General Supremo. "Why would you want to assault an area as fortified as there?"

"Wonderful that you might ask, General. One, it's the final main safe haven for plantkind. Two, the amount of plants that would be there to defend could mean an entire army of Swappers! And finally, it would make a great testing center for another, greater, more evil plan!" Dr. Zomboss stated, followed by his unmistakable evil laugh. "We shall strike in three days. And I have just the thing to break their lines, too..."

"Is that why you're stockpiling Zombots from the factory?"

"Indeed it is… Now leave!"

As the General Supremo left, Zomboss re-opened the tab on his computer that showed blueprints of creations that could possibly be the zombies' Magnum Opuses… Opusi? Oh, whatever, there are multiple plans for ultimate weapons, let's put it at that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey, sorry guys. I got finals to do, so this one may be a bit late.**

Chapter 5: The Great Journey

The next morning, the plants woke up still outside, the fire long since extinguished. The other plants, all accounted for by the night watch, were laying around in other, random places, as few had actually retired to their sleeping quarters that night. Pete, the first one to wake up, quickly noticed that, and also realized he was still sitting. One thing that surprised him was noticing Sunny leaning on his shoulder, still asleep in the early dawn, meaning that Pete was basically stuck there for a few hours (not that he didn't like it), waiting for the others to wake up. After another hour or two, everyone started getting up, one by one, until everyone had woken up. For a few hours, normal business happened, until a Transport RV, which was larger than the regular 4-person RVs that Ops teams used, emerged from an overhead portal. Once it landed, a Dave-Bot pilot spoke over the RV's mic system.

"Howdy hey, fellow plants! I've been sent here to pick you guys up for an extra CRAAAAAZY secret mission! Come on iiiiin!" the Dave-Bot incessantly wabbled.

"Are you sure this isn't some sort of zombie death trap?" A Kernel Corn only going by the name of Colonel Kernel shouted.

"Well, I'm as sure as the chances of me being a piece of buttered toast!"

"Hmph. Well, you are not a buttered piece of toast, I can guarantee that," Colonel assured himself.

"Then let's go! What are we waiting on?" said Duke.

Everyone began filing into the Transport RV. Once everyone had entered and was accounted for, the Transport RV rose up, and went through a portal it generated. Once the RV completed its small journey through the wormhole, the plants were amazed at what they saw: a brilliant rainforest hundreds of feet below them, with an impressive mountain range in the distance, and a desert they were approaching. Beyond that, the city of Lotus Towers awaited them in the far distance.

But the tranquility didn't last for long.

A lone Zomni-Carrier appeared out of nowhere, and began to broadside the defenseless RV, causing it to make a rapid descent towards the desert in front of them. As everyone began to panic, one thought screamed out in Pete's head amongst the fear: _at least we'll be somewhat close to Lotus Towers_.

Then the RV made its crash landing, still a ways off from Lotus Towers. Far enough where walking all day wouldn't be enough to reach Lotus Towers. Some plants looked back at the Dave-Bot, who, despite its damage, was still talking normally.

"Looks like we've hit a sticky situation, here! Guess I should tell you your secret mission now, huh?"

"Blow it out your ass," Duke said before being slapped on the back of his head. "Ow! Watch the hair!"

"You guys have been brought here because we've received info on a secret attack planned by Zomboss in an attempt to destroy the city! Now you've gotta defend!"

"Just us? All alone? In the middle of this desert? We can't possibly handle 25 Zomni-Carriers' worth of zombies!" yelled Jesse.

"Who said you were defending alone?" said the Dave-Bot

"We're not defending alone? Thank Dave for that," Torchy commented.

"I'm afraid that's all I can say before self destruct to prevent information falling into wrong hands. Later, plants!" The Dave-Bot said before the light bulb on it's head popped, and set the Dave-Bot alight. Some plants stared in sadness, others already walking off towards Lotus Towers. Eventually the whole group was all together, making their way towards the city of Lotus Towers...


End file.
